Meizu m3 goes official: new chipset but same $92 price

Meizu has just announced the successor to its entry-level m2 smartphone. The new Meizu m3 carries a lot of the traits of the existing model, including the $92 base price, while offering a few minor upgrades.

One of those is the chipset, a Mediatek MT6750 with an octa-core Cortex-A53 CPU (4x1.5GHz, 4x1.0) replaces the MT6735 with a half the cores. There are two versions, the base one with 2GB of RAM and 16GB of built-in storage, and a higher-specced one with 3GB/32GB. There's a microSD slot for expansion either way.

The polycarbonate body still holds a 5-inch 720p display, but the footprint is marginally increased, likely to accommodate one of the changes - the m3 has 2.5D glass on its front. At 141.5 x 69.5 x 8.3mm, it's a little thinner though, and still packs in a larger 2,870mAh battery (2,500mAh in the m2).

The primary camera is the same 13MP unit with an f/2.2 aperture and phase detection autofocus. On the front you get a 5MP f/2.0 shooter, nothing new here either.

Thanks to the new chipset, you also get LTE over a number of bands - what in China seems to be called Full netcom support. There's the mandatory Bluetooth, GPS and Wi-Fi a/b/g/n connectivity, but no Wi-Fi ac.

Available in a number of fresh colors, the m3 can be had in China for CNY 599 (2GB/16GB version), while the top 3GB/32GB version goes for CNY 799 ($123). Global availability is unlikely to happen over official channels though, so importing one where you are will inevitably put a premium on those numbers.